The following relates generally to electronic memory apparatuses, and more specifically to techniques for sensing logic values stored in memory cells using sense amplifiers that are selectively isolated from digit lines.
Electronic memory apparatuses are widely used to store information in various electronic devices such as computers, wireless communication devices, cameras, digital displays, and the like. Information is stored by programming different states into the electronic memory apparatus. For example, binary electronic memory apparatuses have two states, often denoted by a logic “1” and a logic “0.” In other systems, more than two states may be stored. To access the stored information, a device may read, or sense, the stored state in the electronic memory apparatus. To store information, the device may write, or set, the state in the electronic memory apparatus.
Various types of electronic memory apparatuses exist, such as random access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), synchronous dynamic RAM (SDRAM), ferroelectric RAM (FeRAM), magnetic RAM (MRAM), resistive RAM (ReRAM), flash memory, and others. Electronic memory apparatuses may be volatile or non-volatile. Non-volatile electronic memory apparatuses, e.g., flash memory, can store data for extended periods of time even in the absence of an external power source. Volatile electronic memory apparatuses, e.g., DRAM, may lose their stored state over time unless they are periodically refreshed by an external power source. A binary electronic memory apparatus may, for example, include a charged or discharged capacitor. A charged capacitor may become discharged over time through leakage currents, resulting in the loss of the stored information. Certain aspects of volatile memory may offer performance advantages, such as faster read or write speeds, while aspects of non-volatile memory may offer performance advantages such as the ability to store data without periodic refreshing (which may reduce power consumption).
FeRAM may use similar device architectures similar to those of volatile memory, but may have non-volatile properties due to the use of a ferroelectric capacitor as a storage device. FeRAM devices may thus have improved performance compared to other non-volatile and volatile electronic memory apparatuses. FeRAM performance may be further improved by increasing the speed at which data is read from the capacitors used in an FeRAM array.